Most oil and gas wells require some form of stimulation treatment either during completion or re-completion in order to stimulate production from the well. Many well stimulation treatments require that well stimulation fluids be pumped at high pressure and at high rates into the well. Those well stimulation fluids are frequently laden with abrasive proppants such as sharp sand, bauxite or ceramic particles. The conduits through which those fluids are pumped are therefore subject to wear due to erosion induced by the abrasive particles. That wear is commonly referred to in the field as “wash”, and a fluid conduit that has eroded in this way is said to be “washed”.
The problem of wash is particularly severe in fluid conduits where turbulent flow occurs. Turbulent flow is most common where two or more high-pressure streams converge. Consequently, flow convergence equipment such as “frac heads”, “flow tees” and valves are generally most subject to wash. Frac heads resistant to wash have therefore been invented. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,172, which issued May 31, 2005 to McLeod et al. describes an abrasion resistant frac head. Assignee's co-pending patent application Ser. No. 10/979,328 which was filed on Nov. 2, 2004 and entitled Fracturing Head With Replaceable Inserts For Improved Wear Resistance and Method Of Refurbishing Same, describes a fully sleeved frac head that is very abrasive resistant. Assignees co-pending United States patent application having a publication number 20060027779 which was published on Feb. 9, 2006 and entitled Hi-Pressure Plug Valve with Replaceable Inserts and Method of Refurbishing Same, describes an abrasion resistant plug valve.
While each of these inventions has merit, refurbishing them requires time and skill.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide a quick-change wear sleeve for high-pressure fluid conduits.